Kanye Worst

Is this ever going to stop?

Kanye West takes time at a hurricane relief effort to claim that Bush doesn't care about black people. Then he gets booed at an NFL game. And it will stop there. Oh, make no mistake, Kanye won't stop. He'll come right back at those boos: unapologetic and ready to engage in more race-baiting. (BTW, has it escaped Kanye's notice that the Texans who welcomed Katrina's refugees were mostly white? And that most of them were associated with church organizations? You know, the bigoted, bible-thumping, red-stater, good ol' boy hicks.)

But no one is really going to take Kanye West to task. At least not anyone who matters to Kanye West. He's rap's goldenboy right now. He's a conscientious rapper. He raps about ISSUES.

To his credit, he delivered an extremely moving #1 hit called "Jesus Walks" that actually presented faith in God as a positive thing and even addressed the fact that it's commercially and socially acceptable to rap about just about any other subject. Swell! But plenty of that same song is taken up with going after the eeeevil white man (who appears with shotgun and mirrored sunglasses in the video-- tres subtle, Kanye). T

hen there's the hit "All Falls Down" in which he blames the black focus on materialism on (wait for it) the eeeevil white man: "Cause they make us hate ourself and love they wealth." Oh yes, Kanye, all of you rappers are just victims. Incredibly wealthy, influential victims. Incredibly, wealthy, influential victims who choose to use their exorbitant wealth and influence to glorify moral bankruptcy, materialism, misogyny, and really crappy grammar.

And finally, there's the recent single "Gold Digger" on which Jamie Foxx guests. Now, here, he's doing something really revolutionary by using hip-hop to push a negative stereotype of black women-- but, see, it's a NEW negative stereotype. Now, even if you ignore the closing verse ("But when you get on he leave yo a** for a white girl") or the hilarious idea of an NFL player driving a Hyundai cuz his eeevil wife took all of his money, there's a far sadder story in this song. Kanye again regails us with the woes of a wealthy, influential victim who falls prey to a greedy girl who claims to be having his baby: "18 years, 18 years/ She got one of yo kids got you for 18 years." And what is the moral message of this song? Don't sleep around? Use protection? You're a man so act like one? Nah. "If you aint no punk holla We Want Prenup."

Oh, and there's a twist! See, on the kid's 18th birthday, the daddy finds out it wasn't his kid after all! See, there are so many rich men out there who are so eager to do the right thing that they don't even demand a paternity test before they plunk down 18 years of child support.

The message of all of these songs is simply one of victimhood. You're materialistic? Not your fault. Your values are out of whack? Not your fault. You committed a crime that landed you on a chain gang? Not your fault. You got someone pregnant? Not your fault. You shot at emergency workers? Not your fault. You stood with your fellow gang members to prevent firemen from reaching a burning building? Not your fault. You decided your job as a New Orleans police officer was to loot Wal Mart? Not your fault. You turned down federal aid BEFORE the storm hit? Not your fault.

Whatever you did, you were probably driven to it by an eeevil white guy. And he probably wears mirrored sunglasses.

A New Kind of Screenwriting Contest

If you're a conservative or libertarian interested in entering screenwriting contests, then you know the problem. Most contests claim to be seeking "diversity." But somehow this "diversity" does not extend to ideas or themes that diverge from the liberal Hollywood orthodoxy of political correctness. Write a script that doesn't conform to that orthodoxy, and you don't have a snowball's chance.

This contest is different. Check it out.

Walking in LA

Took a walk down Larchmont this morning. I was already feeling peevish because the fella at Van's Dry Cleaning & Shoe Repair told me there was no way to fix my comfiest pair of heels. (I sincerely doubt it and, though I hate to take business to the West Side, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. Besides, I don't think Van's makes much on shoe repair these days. Their lucrative "side" business seems to be cell phones.)

Anyway, my mood took a direct hit when I saw, in front of the Rite Aid, a little table bearing a banner which read, "Only idiots support free trade!" There was also a picture of President Bush as Alfred E. Newman and a caption reading, "In your guts, you know he's nuts."

Nonsense like this doesn't really deserve any kind of response. These people are clearly out for a day of preaching to the converted and self-congratulation. Still, it would be nice to be able to take the dog for a walk without being reminded of the overwhelming ignorance of the average Angelino. Luckily, the dullards manning the table looked like they would be heading back to high school in September.

Of course, things are only bound to get worse then. I came across one of my high school English papers the other day. It was basically a six page rant on how religion is just a tool used by the white elite to keep the black man down. It was pure liberal pap: lazy, regurgitated propaganda straight from the beaks of my birdbrained teachers. It's embarrassing to realize that your years as a teen rebel were really spent as a tool for the educational establishment.

But such is the nature of an L.A. education. It's not so much deliberate brainwashing as the result of teachers who all share the same views and consequently lack any check on their rampant liberalism. In English classes, they teach the author's perspective as historical truth so that leftist allegory becomes historical record. Any debate is purely imaginary. Views that challenge the artist are ascribed to some amorphous right-wing power structure that is as villainous as it is vague.

All I can hope is that more teens will do as I did, start thinking for themselves, and grow the f**k up.

no G strings attached

Told you so.

Box Office Woes Don't Wane

Sorry to keep beating this drum,, but the NYT states the case again:

"With box-office attendance sliding, so far, for the third consecutive year, many in the industry are starting to ask whether the slump is just part of a cyclical swing driven mostly by a crop of weak movies or whether it reflects a much bigger change in the way Americans look to be entertained - a change that will pose serious new challenges to Hollywood."

The big question, alluded to in the article, is whether the box office slump is due entirely to new technology (DVDs, home entertainment systems, etc.), or to declining quality of product. I definitely think the first option is a factor. But I think as well that Hollywood's insistence on making movie after movie that ignores (or worse, flies in the face of) the values of the heartland, and instead keeps sending the same liberal messages over and over, doesn't do it any favors.

Brother, Can You Spare Me a Spine?

We're letting them get away with it again. We're maintaining a dignified silence while the bullies pat themselves on the back and spend our lunch money.

We're supposed to be the party of real men. So why is it that when the Dems play dirty, when they break deals, when they attack us personally, we never come out swinging? C'mon, fellas. It's time to take a hint from our President (or Newt or Ann Coulter)and cowboy up.

We should be making it embarrassing and uncomfortable for McCain and Graham and the rest of the defective defectors to hold hands with the Democrats.

If Frist doesn't muster up some righteous anger, then he deserves what he gets.

If the Republicans don't learn to out-spin the Democrats (and letting them get away with labeling like the "nuclear option" isn't a good start), they only have themselves to blame.

I want good soundbites. I want simple statements that refute Dem chicanery. And I want a little outrage and indignation.

(And while I'm at it, I want our local leaders to rethink their priorities. You heard me. Today I got two emails about a protest being organized to return the cross to the Los Angeles seal. I suppose it's a worthy cause. But I'm a hell of a lot more concerned with the nonsense going on in the Senate and the unfettered filibusters to come.)

Rant ends here. Exit stage left humming "I Need a Hero."

Moby = D***? Help Solve the Mystery

I can honestly say that I have never left the house without seeing an anti-Bush bumper sticker. The posters of President Bush with "Liar" emblazoned across his face are just another of the charming perks that go along with residence behind enemy lines. But it does wear on a girl.

Imagine my delight when I saw a series of posters featuring a black and white depiction of musician and vocal Bush-basher Moby, and emblazoned with the words, "Moby = Dick!" Subtle? No. Timely? Well, unless I missed something, Moby's rants reached a fever pitch before the 2004 election. Welcome? Hell yeah!

Now, I ask you to help me solve the mystery. Are these posters part of the long-awaited rise of the Republican guerilla art movement? Oh I can hear the libs laughing at that one. But I don't think it's so far-fetched. I have long argued that, given their money, media influence, and dominance of academia, the left can hardly continue to present themselves "rebels" much less "anti-establishment." As long as they did, they also cornered the youth market: teens and college students who actually have the time to put together graphics campaigns or show up at every demonstration in town.

So what's the story with this Moby poster? Do I dare to hope that the revolution has begun? Or is this just some anti-techno stunt?